While browsing the Android Market the other day I came across Frogger. It’s funny to see this game on the “small screen” considering its history. I remember going to the arcade as a kid to play the game. Konami developed the game and introduced it in 1981 with simple premise. Get the frog to the other side of the road without getting smashed by a car or falling into the river.

Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that this premise would inspire people to play Frogger IRL, but that’s exactly what has happened… with disastrous results. A 23-year old man from from South Carolina decided to re-enact the game of Frogger Monday evening with friends. After a friend announced, “Go!”, the man proceeded to dodge through traffic until he was struck by a Lexus SUV. Lucky for the man it wasn’t, “Game Over.” As of Tuesday, he remained in stable condition.

To be fair, the idea of a real-life game of Frogger is not an original idea. An episode of Seinfield in 1998 aptly named The Frogger ended with George Costanza dodging traffic to get the arcade cabinet of the game across a road. In the end, he wasn’t successful. The cabinet was struck and demolished by a truck. The ending of the famous Seinfield episode should have been an indication of how a real life version of the game would go.